Growing in the life we were meant to live through the grace of the One who created us to live it...

Thursday, April 21, 2016

Don't Quit

Sometimes life seems to be going nowhere fast. The goals and dreams you have, the promises you’ve been holding on to and working for feel farther away than ever. Nothing is happening. Nothing is moving. There’s not a finish line in site. Discouragement can set in.

These times can be the most difficult to keep going, or to even stand your ground and not fall back. I’ve felt that. I’ve been there. If I’m honest, I’m there right now. Sometimes it seems the things in our lives we believe God has called us to are never going to come. We keep waiting.

The questions swirl around – We begin to question if we are really called. We begin to question whether we are on the right track, if we’ve veered off the road. We wait. We begin to question whether God will truly bring us to the place of fulfillment of the promise. Yet we continue to wait.

As we wait to see the promises of God fulfilled in our lives, we have to remember that the One who has promised us is not a man. In the waiting I often find myself thinking of God and associate human shortfalls with Him. Is God mad at me because I didn’t do something? Did I fall short? Don’t little things people do make me mad at times and my reaction can be to withhold things from people? Is God doing that?

Then I’m reminded by the simplicity of His sweet Spirit – that He’s not a man that He should lie, that He is faithful to fulfill all that He has promised. As I wait, there is a journey. Even when things don’t look like I thought they would, He is faithful in the journey.

Many times there are twists and turns we didn’t foresee that can discourage us, hills and valleys that contain illness, heartache, or waiting, not knowing or understanding why. Those are the times we must not quit.

Hebrews 10:23 tells us – “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering for He who promised is faithful.”

Psalm 37:23 tells us that “The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives.”

When we walk in the things that God has gifted us in, there is hope wrapped in it. Sometimes those things seem like faraway desires and we are tempted to settle for less instead of raising our expectations of fulfillment. One of my favorite quotes is from C.S. Lewis in “The Weight of Glory”:

“We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.” -C.S. Lewis

We can’t quit and settle for less. I don’t want to live my life half-hearted when so much more is offered.

Many times what we are waiting for is just around the corner. If we don’t quit, if we just take that next step, we win.

God tells us about winning in His word – In Hebrews 11:6 we are told that “He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” In 2 Chronicles 15:7 we are told to “be strong and do not give up, for your work will be rewarded.” And in Luke 21:19 we are told to “stand firm, and you will win life.”

So don’t quit. Keep moving forward. When you feel like things are stagnant, take time to be in God’s presence. Continue to learn, continue to love. Be encouraged, even in the waiting.